deserved. The amusement in it mostly depends upon the deformity of the
sensual, the failures of the wicked, and the exposure of guilt in a kind
of moral pillory. It did not aim at mere accidental losses or
imperfections, and made no fanciful accusations merely to amuse, but it
was often lightened by metaphor, by coined words, and especially by
exaggeration.

The satire of Rome, though in a certain sense new, seems to have been
somewhat derived from Greece. Ennius, who commenced it, a man younger
than Plautus and older than Terence, was himself half a Greek. He wrote
epic poems and comedies, and also introduced this comic literature for
private reading. Lucilius, who was the first eminent Roman satirist, is
said to have imitated the old Greek comedies. His attacks are very
severe and personal, reminding us a little of Archilochus, though
apparently not written to gratify any private spleen. The tendency to
personalities marked a time when the range of society and the tone of
thought were equally narrow. Moral depravity was considered to be
centred in a few individuals, and in the broken fragments of Lucilius'
rage, which have descended to us, we find a man stigmatised as an
"ulcer," "gangrene," a "poison," "jibber," "shuffler," "a hard-mouthed
obstinate brute." Sometimes he ridicules the bodily infirmities of the
depraved; but Lucilius' attacks seem less ill-natured and more justly
humorous from being always directed against the vicious and demoralised.
Occasionally he indulges in such uncomplimentary expressions as "There
is no flummery-maker equal to you," while some are hailed with "Long
life to you, glutton, gormandizer, and belly-god." He might truly say in
his metaphorical language, "I seize his beak and smash his lips,
Zopyrus' fashion, and knock out all his front teeth."

The satire of Horace was exceptionally mild; with him its social